Local legislator pushing for tougher repeat-offender laws

Stoughton police officer Robert Kuhn was off-duty and driving his own car when he took Exit 20A and headed toward Stoughton on a Friday night in August.

That’s when he noticed several sets of brake lights along the off-ramp. Three cars ahead, Kuhn spotted the problem. A small, dark-colored sedan was weaving between the lanes and traveling at just 5 mph, the Enterprise reported.

The driver went on to drive through an intersection, cross over a double solid yellow line and drive across three lanes of traffic into the oncoming travel lane, said Kuhn.

The alert off-duty police officer followed, chased and ultimately ended up wrestling with and pulling the driver out of his car, Kuhn said.

The driver was Gregorio Amado, 53, of Fuller Street in Everett, who was arrested on his fifth drunken-driving offense that night.

He isn’t alone these days.

Amado was one of six others charged with repeat drunken driving in the area since August. When factored together, those drivers have had 25 drunken driving charges among them.

It’s a recurring set of circumstances that prompted one lawmaker to push for tougher repeat-offender laws. But he said it won’t be easy.

“Judges always fight against the legislature when we are trying to implement tougher sentencing guidelines,” said Rep. Geoff Diehl, R-Whitman.

“The judiciary system in this state looks for leniency more than appropriate sentencing guidelines,” Diehl said.

That results in two problems – public mistrust and sending a signal to repeat offenders that there are no consequences, said Diehl.

A first drunken-driving offense in the state can result in jail of up to 30 months, fines ranging from $500 to $5,000, license suspension of one year and a court assigned treatment program.

A fifth drunken-driving offense can result in jail time from two to five years, fines from $2,000 to $50,000 and permanent license suspension.

The penalties were toughened in 2005, when the state put into effect Melanie’s Law, which enhanced the penalties for operating under the influence.

“All we can do as police officers is get them off the streets,” said Stoughton’s Deputy Chief of Police Robert Devine. “We put together the best case we can, we want to see them pay for breaking the law.”

Brockton resident and Vietnam veteran William Doten was arrested in January in Avon on his ninth charge of drunken driving. According to police, Doten hasn’t had an active driver’s license since 1994. Doten has a final pretrial hearing scheduled for Nov. 4 in Norfolk County Superior Court. A jury trial is scheduled for Nov. 19.

“We’ve got to have the judges sticking to some of the sentencing so we don’t have another case like Mr. Doten,” said Diehl.

It’s not that the laws are bad, it is the way they are executed, said prosecutor Gerry Leone.

Leone served as district attorney for Middlesex County for seven years and was a prosecutor for 20 years. He’s now a partner at Nixon, Peabody in Boston.

“Legislation isn’t a deterrent for repeat OUI offenders,” said Leone.

He believes that two things need to be done to help keep repeat drunken drivers from getting behind the wheel. The first is that the Legislature needs to pass a rewrite of the OUI laws, which has languished for years, said Leone. Prosecutors and defense attorneys alike have submitted their revisions through the district attorney’s association, according to Leone.

The second change is that there needs to be more affordable and available treatments for people with abuse, addiction and impulse control issues, said Leone.

The lack of a stronger deterrent and tougher law means one thing, according to the state director of the Mass. Chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD): “Repeat offenders continue to drive,” said director David DeLuliis.

“We need to go back to the first offense and figure out what is being done there, generally it is nothing,” said DeLuliis.

There tend to be fewer repeat offenders when drivers use the ignition interlock device, a system that prevents drivers from starting a car until they prove they haven’t been drinking, DeLuliis said. The device is a mechanism, like a breathalyzer, installed on a motor vehicle's dashboard that requires an operator to exhale and show they haven’t been drinking.

Otherwise, the car doesn’t start.

“The data on the ignition interlocks shows that they work, because they separate drinking and driving,” said DeLuliis.